Chasing Darkened Skies
by atsuibelulah
Summary: Another Oneshot sequel, this time to Such A Fooled Heart. Sarah isn't the only one to be marked by that fateful summer night in the park. Someone wants answers to questions left unasked and Sarah is the only person who can give them. hinting at JS


A/N: Sorry! Another pre-story note here. This is the sequel to a one-shot I wrote in 2005, called "Such A Fooled Heart". You might want to read or reread that fic before reading this one. It won't make a bunch of sense otherwise. Here's the link This fic is a songfic set to "Waiting for the Moon to Rise" by Belle and Sebastian, although not with the complete lyrics. Anyway, please enjoy!

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**Chasing Darkened Skies**

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He had known while she was still lying there, that she didn't want to go back to the party. Neither had he, really. But he could tell she wanted to be alone, so he had walked, stumbled more like, to the bank of the lake, out of view but not out of earshot. He heard her voice, whispering, "As...the world...falls...down."

And then she began to cry.

He listened to her crying for what felt like a long time. But he could never really be sure. He had never been so drunk before that night.

And while her sobs grew more and more quiet, he had sat staring over the moonlit water and he wondered what in the world he'd done to make her cry like that. She had wanted him; she had made that perfectly clear. No protest ever escaped her lips and she hadn't pushed him away. It had been her idea in the first place. She'd said something, called him something that had banged around in his head until he could barely remember it anymore. She had sung him that song, strange but familiar all the same. He thought she had enchanted him.

Sometime later he heard her leave, putting that stunning silver dress back on, smoothing her hair, wiping her tears. The night was quiet and his hearing had always been excellent. He saw her run across the bridge, but she didn't see him. He was hidden by the shadows of the rushes and she hadn't been looking anyway. Still, even though she had gone, he hadn't wanted to move.

He'd thought he heard an owl across the water. So he had watched for it, but it never came. At dawn, as sunlight stole over the pine trees that ringed the park, he stood up, with the world still spinning, and walked home.

_All the way back home  
I'm telling you I caught the sun  
Creeping up behind my shoulder  
And another day's begun_

Over a year later his parents threw a party for the 4th of July. They had gained their citizenship in the spring and thought it would be a laugh. He, on the other hand, had always hated the town's socialite circle and he dreaded the day even more when he heard that she would be there. Her step-mother came from blood as blue as his own and her father was a highly successful attorney; her family were the rising stars of the local society and, from her expression when she stepped inside his home, he could tell she detested it. That, or she didn't want to be within miles of him.

It was probably both. But he felt compelled to speak to her. Whenever he thought of that night, he remembered the sound of her crying into the wet grass. His memories of certain things that night were vague and strange. He could not remember what name she had given him, or what song she had sung. But he knew that she _had called_ to him, and she _had sung_ him into the park, and he wanted to _know_ her. He wanted to really meet the girl, have a conversation with her. He thought...he shook his head, he didn't know what he thought.

So, he spent the better part of the evening trying to catch her eye, trying to find a casual way to approach her. She spent the same amount of time avoiding him, using her brother as a convenient reason to evade casual conversation with almost everyone. Finally when the kid's mother beckoned him to get a seat for the fireworks, he called her name.

She turned, saw it was him and spun away immediately, but he caught her arm and held it while he spoke discreetly, "I've been trying to catch you for a while now," he gave her a friendly smile. "I really would like to speak with you."

She looked up at him, and her eyes were pleading, "I-I can't," she spoke softly, backing away. "Please, excuse me." And she turned, nearly running out the back garden gate, in the direction of the park.

He was stunned. Just for a moment, he stood and wondered what it was that was so horrible about him. What was so offensive to her? He only wanted to talk. But the moment passed quickly and before he knew it he'd jumped the hedges and was off like a shot, going after her.

He caught up with her at the bridge. The bridge she had sung him across, but they were coming from the wrong direction. It was almost as if that night had never ended, she was running home and he had emerged from the rushes. He could do it. He could ask her. He could apologize for whatever he'd done. If only she would stop running.

"Sarah, please!" he cried.

Finally, had turned to face him, he on one bank, she at the other. There was that same plea in her eyes, but he couldn't give her what she wanted; he had no idea what it was.

"What?" she breathed helplessly, they had both just sprinted a block.

He was caught off guard. He'd been so busy trying to get to speak to her, now that he had her attention he wasn't sure what he wanted to say. "I...I'm really sorry about that night. I'm not entirely sure...well, what I mean is, I'm sorry for whatever I did to make you cry like that. I—

"Like what?" Her brow creased and her eyes grew angry instead of pleading, he didn't know if this was better or worse.

He resisted the urge to groan aloud, realizing he shouldn't have tried to say it all in a rush. He should have explained. "That night, I didn't want to go back to the party. I went over there," he said, pointing unnecessarily, "I heard you crying. I didn't know what I'd done...I," he held his hands out to her, then dropped them to hang at his sides. His head dropped as well, for one desperate moment, he wanted to kneel down and prostrate himself before her. But, coming back to himself and fearing she would run away again at his theatrics, he remained standing, trying to pour all the remorse he could fill into his shaking voice, "_I'm so sorry_."

He saw her face crumple, he saw the tears on her face, and he hated it. But he couldn't go to her. How can you comfort someone who had just been running away from you? Despite the familiar setting, this was territory he had never encountered before. He just wanted to say what had been in his mind for a year, on the tip of his tongue for the entire day.

He was going to go on, to ask what he'd done, but she shook her head at him, "Please...please don't say that. It wasn't you. I-I was crying because of someone else. _Not you_." She shook her head again at that, as if she was trying to convince herself, and swiped at the tears on her cheeks. Her makeup smeared, but her eyes shone. It was strange; he almost thought she looked lovelier than that other summer night.

Now he really wanted to go to her. He didn't know how he'd never seen her before she approached him. Self absorbed prick. He'd had more than one girl call him that. He knew it didn't _have_ to be about him. But, from what she'd said that night...or what he...he couldn't remember anymore. Hadn't she made it seem like it was about him?

"Sarah," he began, taking a step forward.

One step before her ire returned.

"Stop it!" she shouted at him, and he froze, baffled. Her hands shook in what looked like frustration, or confusion. Her tears were angry now and she pointed at him as she cried, "Stop saying my name! Not like that. Not like _him_."

"Like _who_?" He whispered.

She looked up at him, anger clouding her eyes, her mouth open. He knew she didn't want to say, hadn't meant to say anything like that, so he took another step forward. He spoke softly, but earnestly, if he could get her to say, to trust him. He wanted to _know_ this girl. "Who, Sarah? You pulled me into it. You did whatever it was that you did to me that night. Who is this all really about?"

And then he heard it, a snap, like a match, a louder crack and a whiz from across the silent park. Then the sky ignited, splashing silver light over the water. The fireworks had begun, and the two of them were right underneath it.

Red, blue, green and gold light followed. It played across the dark water of the lake and it illuminated Sarah's tearstained face.

And the noise was almost deafening. Nothing more could be said now, so they stood and watched them. Sarah had taken a few steps towards him onto the bridge, so that the trees on the far side would not obstruct her view. They were close now, but not so close that he could touch her. He turned to her and smiled, and she tentatively smiled back. The answers didn't seem so necessary now.

The light soared up into the night sky and the smoke fell right back down. When the finale began in earnest, it was all explosions and noise, one after the other, two, three and four at a time, more and more and more. The light was so bright it hurt the eyes, but he couldn't look away. He couldn't see, or feel, or think anything else.

When it was over, and no more flew into the night, he felt almost hollow. His ears were ringing and everything seemed dark. The sky seemed black and forbidding now. He could see no stars. It was as if they had all spent their energy in one shining terrible moment, but had now fallen to earth. He felt as if the sky could swallow him whole with its darkness. He turned, to find Sarah gone from his side.

_I was following a trail  
I'd never been along before  
Chasing darkened skies above me_

He watched the smoke move silently across the water from the open field from where all those stars had shot. It was grey and opaque, and it flowed over the water, like fog in the early morning. But it was only just dusk, or had he spent the entire night with Sarah again?

He laughed at himself. Chuckling bitterly into the ringing silence. He'd never spent a night with her, just a few moments of reality and then she dwelled only in his thoughts.

The smoke rolled over him. It smelled acrid and it tasted like ashes in his mouth. But then he saw how it caught the light, or maybe it had retained something from those fallen stars. Everything looked a little brighter.

_Looking like the spring  
Like the winter  
And the morning_

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A/N: This fic, was mostly a writing exercise for me. It was inspired by the Songfic Challenge on **Labyfic**, the LJ community on which I am a mod. (You can actually go to Labyfic and hear the song the fic is set to...as soon as I post it up.) I'm not sure why I decided to continue from Such A Fooled Heart. But the song is one of my favorites and when I thought about the situation and the characters and the setting, it all clicked. Although, not long enough for there to actually be a resolution. I'm just letting everyone know that I plan to write another songfic in this little series, one in which there will be an ending, and we will finally find out the answer to the question... "Well, is he or isn't HE?" 

Disclaimer: don't own Labyrinth of "Waiting for the Moon to Rise". Those honors are held by Henson co. and Belle and Sebastian, respectively._  
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